People Living Near Airports Face Greater Heart Risks

Nighttime noise exposure can lead to stiffer, thicker heart muscles and higher cardiac event risks, according to a recent study.

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People living near airports may face an increased risk of poor heart function, a recent study suggests. Researchers found that consistent exposure to aircraft noise could lead to heart structure abnormalities and increased risk of cardiac events, stroke, and arrhythmia.

Heart Muscle Stiffening

The study from University College London (UCL), published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on Jan. 8, analyzed heart imaging data from over 3,600 participants living near four major airports in England.

The researchers found that residents exposed to high noise levels had stiffer, thicker heart muscles, compromising their hearts’ ability to contract and pump blood efficiently. This effect was particularly pronounced among those exposed to nighttime aircraft noise, potentially due to disrupted sleep.

Higher aircraft noise was defined as over 50 decibels on average during the day and 45 decibels on average during the night. This is louder than the World Health Organization’s recommended aircraft noise limits of 45 decibels on average during the day and 40 decibels on average at night.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends aiming for 55 decibels outdoors and 45 decibels indoors to prevent activity interference and annoyance. According to the agency, these levels allow for activities like sleeping, working, and recreation without significant disruption.

Hearts exposed to high aircraft noise levels showed 10 percent to 20 percent worse structure, such as thickening and stiffening, and function compared to residents in quieter areas.

Also, people with these noise-related heart abnormalities faced a two- to four-fold increased risk of major cardiac events, including heart attack and stroke.

The study suggested several ways through which noise affects heart health.

Between a quarter to half of the heart abnormalities among people exposed to aircraft noise were attributed to high body mass index (BMI), and around 10 percent to 40 percent was attributed to high blood pressure, first author Dr. Constantin-Cristian Topriceanu from UCL’s Institute of Cardiovascular Science said.

Excessive noise can disrupt sleep, and poor sleep can damage the heart because it triggers inflammation and increases the risk of plaque buildup in arteries, reducing blood flow.

Also, constant environmental noise can trigger the body’s stress response, raising heart rate and blood pressure. This sustained stress can damage blood vessels, making them less flexible, which increases the risk of high blood pressure.

“Our study is observational so we cannot say with certainty that high levels of aircraft noise caused these differences in heart structure and function,” Dr. Gaby Captur, associate professor at UCL and a senior author of the study, said in a press release. “However, our findings add to a growing body of evidence that aircraft noise can adversely affect heart health.”

“We are concerned that the type of abnormalities we saw with night-time aircraft noise might result in increased risk of heart problems and stroke,” professor and co-study author Anna Hansell from the University of Leicester said in the press release. “Aircraft noise at night has been shown to affect sleep quality—and this may be an important factor affecting health,” she noted.

The researchers used data from the UK Biobank and measured noise exposure based on civil aviation authority estimates. Approximately 8 percent of participants lived in areas with high daytime aircraft noise, and 3 percent were subjected to high levels at nighttime.

Aircraft Noise Comparable to Smoking for Heart Health: Expert

Research has long linked environmental noise to health risks. The growth of cities and increasing traffic has heightened these concerns.

Previous research has shown that traffic noise can harm heart health. Research conducted in mice and published in 2021 in Nature Reviews Cardiology found that traffic noise could play an essential role in the development of ischemic heart disease (narrowed arteries) that precedes a heart attack.

Commenting on the 2021 study in a press statement, cardiologist and noise expert Thomas Münzel said that this was the first time a translational study was performed to investigate the effects of aircraft noise on acute heart attack, calling the results “stunning.”

“There is no doubt anymore that transportation noise must be considered an important cardiovascular risk factor, comparable to hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, smoking, and diabetes mellitus,” he said.

The UCL study calls for further investigation into the potential clinical consequences of long-term aircraft noise exposure on heart health and the development of noise reduction strategies to protect vulnerable populations living near airports.